Customer Reviews

Tides

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hab burns with the urge to explore, to learn more about the world he lives in. When a scientist discovers that a volcano is errupting somewhere distant, Hab resolves to find this new land--despite the legends that hold that there is only one land. He is so driven, he breaks every rule that his civilization has set in order to construct first a fleet of ships, then a trio of submarines, to explore. Exploration isn't easy. Huge 'Tides,' moon-driven waves, swamp any ship that attempts to cross the open spaces in the deep sea. Still, Hab is a problem solver and inventor. If anyone can get around natural goals, he is the man for it.

Hab, along with the survivors from his venture, reach a strange continent. Unlike his own continent, where nature was bountiful, the new land is harsh and hungry. But it is inhabited by intelligent creatures--creatures with violent warlike habits, but also intelligent creatures who just might hold clues to the great mystery of Hab's own civilization--a message in undecyphered text that has challenged his people for tens of thousands of years. Hab turns his problem-solving to helping the alien species. With agriculture, they might be better able to survive the harsh conditions of their continent.

Author Scott Mackay tells an interesting story of a meeting between species. Neither the alien species nor Hab's people can begin to understand each other--their lives and fundamental beliefs are completely at odds. The huge tides have kept them apart throughout history, but Hab's inventions mean that continued contact is likely. What form that contact will take is something that Hab will need to influence.

Hab makes an interesting and complex character. His attempts to justify his lying, embezzlement, and violence as serving a higher truth are clearly just justifications, but Hab never seems to recognize this. I think Mackay missed a chance when he failed to consider how integrating 'liars' into the culture would create stresses rather than merely opportunities. Finally, the climactic scene where Hab finally learns the truth about the great message seems a bit obvious to me. Still, Mackay's strong writing and the basic alien-first-contact plot line definitely kept me reading.

Tides tells the story of Hab, a sailor who lives in Paras, a lush, fertile continent. He is plagued by curiosity and an inventive drive, so much that he is willing to go against the Parassian philosophy of honesty. When he stumbles upon a scientist who has found proof of a continent other than Paras on the other side of the world, he is bested by his own nature. He embezzles his family fortune and builds state of the art ships to help him avoid the monster tides. He finds a rocky, bleak continent infested with hoppers, an amphibian race of warriors. I loved the way Hab had to go against the honesty religion and how he discovered that he was being lied to by the hoppers, how he was being tricked. The voyage parts were good, and not too drawn out. All the little details make it an excellent read.

I've never read this author before, but the excellent cover art caught my attention here at Amazon.com. Also the synopsis sounded different, so I gave it a try.

And mostly, it was a success. Tides is a nice mix of sci-fi and fantasy, blending very well here in a saga of first discovery. I liked the hoppers, an evil alien species that were a delight to read about. Scott MacKay's world-building and character development are impressive here. The writer did a solid job of throwing me into the story automatically.

I love novels of the sea. And when you toss in alien creatures and create a novel well with sci-fi and fantasy almost seamlessly, then I'm there. If you like well written adventure novels with a blending of both genres, then this one is definately for you.

I look forward to reading another MacKay novel.

Scott MacKay's TIDES tells of a golden land of myth and fantasy which is taught to kids in Paras as a nursery rhyme and accepted by adults as a real world. But a court scientist's discovery challenges a world where truth is a way of life, and sets off a journey of adventure where a mariner's adventure may change his world.

While "Tides", by Scott Mackay was an intriguing book, I was surprised by the simplicity of the writing. It seemed the author kept repeating the same phrases, for example writing the phrase "cache of weapons" twice in the same paragraph. I also found it a bit amazing that Hab, the main character, invented submersible ships and handguns, circumnavigated the globe, AND created a democracy from a former monarchy.

But, "Tides" was suspenseful and presented interesting ideas. Finding a balance between all truth and all lies seems relevant to our own world today.

The two moons make the water rich planet seem like two different worlds as tidal conditions does not allow travel beyond the imaginary barrier, the equator that divides the orb in half. On both sides of the watery "line" lie great continents with each containing an intelligent species unbeknownst to one another.

Renowned sea captain Hab Miquay has made it to the "edge" of the world and returned safely. He has recently learned of a theory from a volcanologist studying ash that there must be another great land mass besides Paras on the other side of the giant tides. Miquay is euphoric as he plans an expedition to crash through the great tides to the other side. Called foolhardy with few backers, he risks his fortune to fund the quest. Miquay and a few courageous yet foolish souls survive the perilous trek crossing the impregnable barrier and indeed find the other continent, Ortok, a volcanic pocked wasteland inhabited by intelligent devious reptiles. One of them drillmaster Ortok uses the naive Miquay to help him with his plans to hop the tidal barrier to the Golden Land beyond.

Though the action is non-stop and fast-paced, it is the planet and its two dominant species that make for a stupendous science fiction thriller. Hab is a fabulous protagonist who enjoys exploring the unknown, but will learn some things are best left alone once he understands how deceitfully wily Ortok and his species are. Scott Mackay provides a strong science fiction thriller in which his age of reason humans and his sentient reptile race seem real perhaps the latter because of the stereotyping starting with Genesis but more likely due to the actions of the star performers.

Harriet Klausner